UAE Community Blog: Do Buy!

01 November, 2006

Do Buy!

Don't miss this thought provoking film about Dubai made by Omair Barkatullah, an independent film maker based in UK. With some slick editing, excellent use of sound and voice clips, the film leaves it to the viewer to judge what Dubai is about and the conflict of identities we all face here, no matter which part of the world you are from.

And listen to the Mall of Emirates security guard in the second part of the video - something that government press releases and glossy real-estate brochures will never mention.

Part1:

Part2:

Part3:

23 comments:

Anonymous said...: Workers who work 24hrs a day for very little seemed happy and the ppl with a clean shirt on their back were complaining like dogs.; 01 November, 2006 13:57
samuraisam said...: I just finished part 2; and I agree, everything that security guard said was monumental.; 01 November, 2006 14:04
LocalExpat said...: WOW! Finnally a documentary showing the others side of Dubai. I had enough of seeing all these documentaries only about BURJ AL ARAB!

Funny things is... i knew all of this all along!; 01 November, 2006 14:11
Anonymous said...: Interesting ... so should people in .ae expect YouTube to be blocked, again?; 01 November, 2006 14:22
Anonymous said...: Hi !!

AC Investor would like to exchange our blogs links, so if you are interested please send an email to antonio.mrcosta@gmail.com

Kindest Reagards,

AC; 01 November, 2006 15:02
marwan said...: Very, very interesting. Good to see a story which doesn't come straight from the Tourism Board. It's not very critical, at least not in an overt way - we're left to draw our own conclusions. Which is refreshing.

Odd that we don't hear any local voices. Why? Were they not willing to be filmed?

That security guard lays down the truth like gunships spitting bullets at La Drang.
The only man among us brave to call out the Emperor.; 01 November, 2006 15:21
Harsha said...: Also starring: Toyota Land Cruiser

lol; 01 November, 2006 15:30
Woke said...: I think Omair is a fantastic talent.

Please do drop in a word of appreciation on his YouTube page if you can.; 01 November, 2006 15:43
moryarti said...: i wonder what will happen to the MoE security guy; 01 November, 2006 18:16
samuraisam said...: "i wonder what will happen to the MoE security guy"

Me too. If I see him I'll be shouting him dinner. A conversation with that guy would be brilliant.; 01 November, 2006 19:28
marwan said...: I wouldn't worry too much about the security guy. From the looks of the uniform, he probably works for one of those huge manpower firms like Lahej Sultan, who employ thousands in guards . Chances are he's "guarding" something else now.; 01 November, 2006 19:58
Lirun said...: i did drop a word or two.. he is amazing..

what an excellent viewing experience..

picture is like a thousand words.. and yet a video is like well not sure how many but i'd say 1,000,000 pictures..

great post - thanks for surfacing the tubes; 01 November, 2006 20:13
Anonymous said...: That was a very interesting take on Dubai. Sure it was biased, but aren't all documentaries? I have more fond memories of a middle class childhood in the city I left almost a decade ago.

The plight of the little man in Dubai is nothing knew. It's always been there. In fact, the UAE may very well have been founded on the principle of exploiting the poor & the week. But know thanks to creative individuals we are seeing more of it being manifested in the written and visual forms.

I suspect the lack of 'locals' (do they still call the UAE nationals that?) on camera, maybe because the film maker himself is of the brown (non-arab) expat kind.; 01 November, 2006 20:38
Axonsax said...: 7 stars; quality movis, thanks for the post; 01 November, 2006 21:59
Anonymous said...: Wow, great comments by all of u here, so who is a local here, and left a decent comment, other than bragging "OH FINALLY SOMETHING NEW ABOUT THE DUBAINESS WE HATE"

I am a local and proud to be one, and if Omair came to me, AFCOURSE I would talk to him and give him my piece of mind, what is there to hide anyway, we have enough of people spitting on us and shunning us as if we dont exist anymore?!! They call us SHIEKHS, MONEY HUNTERS, ETC, whatelse hasnt been said about us? Try to be bias for once, believe me, there are locals just as most of u here, suffer from racasim, cruelty, unfairness, u name it...If there is ONE thing u all want to do and will help all of us, go AHEAD and work ur tounges out to call for our sanity, there is a LOT of bullshit that we have to take from foriegners and higher authorities just to please their own greed...

My oh My, will our grandparents suffer in their graves to see what has become of Dubai, an old city of great VALUES and RESPECT!!; 02 November, 2006 02:40
secretdubai said...: petals - I agree. I'm kind of turning in my (living) grave at some of the changes I've seen just in the five years I've lived here.

Regarding being called "sheikhs" - this is not necessarily rudely meant. Sometimes visitors are genuinely confused that not all men in white robes are sheikhs. Others (like me) sometimes use the terms in a kind of gently comical way. Like "an angry-looking sheikh" or "a bleached Jumeirah Jane" or "a white Sunnyman". The first man probably isn't a sheikh, the second lady may well be a businesswoman, the third man may not even be driving a Nissan - it's just a kind of satire. Stereotypes, sure, with no real force of hatred behind them. Not like the "r" word, for example.; 02 November, 2006 02:54
marwan said...: Petals - bad perceptions cut most ways, and expats don't like being marginalised as mercenaries or labourers. Some of us still this place home.

If you don't like the way things are, write about it, talk about it, sing about it, whatever, but don't stay silent. Local, expat, wee may have our differences, but I think we can all agree that this rapid change was not what anybody wanted, and that it's not too late to return to the Dubai of old.; 02 November, 2006 05:37
Anonymous said...: if you stay longer in dubai you are just supporting the ABUSE of the indian work forces

i wanted to buy some real estate but something in my mind said it was wrong !

the city of gold (sure, gold digged up by children, washing their hands with mercury)

maybe capitalism loves abusing people, i would love to pay TWICE THE PRICE OF DUBAI without using PEOPLE

i think dubai sucks; 02 November, 2006 06:19
Michelle Nickelson said...: Ah Goldenlegs, HRH Princess Haya is Jordanian and a very lovely woman.

Dictionary "While the term “Arab” does not refer to a particular race, the majority of Arabs are categorized as Caucasians or white. White is defined to include people with ancestral origins in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The Middle East and North Africa also has people who are black or originate from South Asia. Although these people refer to themselves as Arabs they are not considered White as their ancestral origins are not from Europe, the Middle East or North Africa. Examples of Arabs who are not White are Sudanese Arabs and Arabs from Southern Egypt who are considered black Africans."

No one holds a gun to anyone's head to live here, expats can leave and locals can move to a different Emirate. Personally, I prefer AD.

I do agree that the treatment of labor is bad here. However, where I am from (Los Angeles) the Mexican labor is treated worse, as they are just now putting some thing together where an employer has to provide ANYTHING for "guest workers."

The important thing is to bring these issues to light and all do what we can to educate others about it.

If we only lived in a perfect world....; 02 November, 2006 10:44
Anonymous said...: dubai! it really isn't what you might think it is, you know.; 02 November, 2006 12:02
BuJ said...: The director is doing an MA at Goldsmiths! Bravo.. an excellent institution.. and also another good work by Omar... thanks for posting this!

also btw, I believe the guard scene is shot at CC not MoE guys!; 05 November, 2006 00:13
samuraisam said...: buj: Nah, i'm 99% certain that is MoE judging by the carpark; unless the director has tried to disguise wherever the security guard really works...; 05 November, 2006 02:21
BuJ said...: s.sam correct, the carpark is MoE, but the escalators shot is from CC... I suspect this is the dude that's also standing in front of the Mango store at the second level, hehe; 05 November, 2006 11:36